Alan Norris

Biography

Alan was born in Poole, Dorset, England on October 1st 1948. As a child, he lived in Canada for a few years in what was then a tiny settlement called Malton near Toronto, Ontario. He went to his first school in the village, a one-room school that was quite basic but typical of the times, in those outlying areas of the Canadian countryside.
Later in life he travelled to Western Australia where he worked as a design draughtsman and, in his spare-time, played drums with a very active band called ‘Unicorn’.
Eventually, Alan returned to England, where he found a winter season of high unemployment and a frosty cold that he&#39;d forgotten about. After a couple of dead-end jobs he joined the Royal Navy and quickly worked his way up to become a Chief Petty Officer.
His first ship was involved in the brief skirmish of the mid 1970s that they called the &quot;Cod War&quot;. He should have seen the trend, because a few years later he was involved in the Falklands Conflict while serving on the frigate, HMS Argonaut. They were hit by two enormous bombs within minutes of the first day of action. One landed in the boiler room and the other became lodged in an ammunition magazine. Luckily neither of these devices exploded, but unfortunately two of our gunners were killed. One of them was just twenty-one years old that day.
Alan&#39;s writing began some years later when, as part of a team producing Technical Handbooks, he began to experiment with fiction and wrote a bag-full of short stories. The experiments continued until 2010 when he set out to use his new-found skills in a second career.
Alan now lives with his wife Stella in a quiet part of central Brittany, surrounded by books, forests, fields and their precious dogs, Elsa, Jester and Monty.
He still plays drums occasionally too.

A lively, action-packed adventure in the time of Vikings and King Alfred-the-Great that tracks a family's fortunes and disasters through the eyes of Ranulf and his wife Hildegaard.
A story told as it must have been in those uncertain, dark days – Episodes full of fear and cruel brutality.

Books

It is 1798 and our story begins on an early day in autumn after some of the wettest summer days on record. Admiral Nelson is at last beginning to win the war at sea against the French and life in the English countryside should be good. But it isn’t.

This book, Volume Two, continues Ranulf's story as he oversees the preparation of the King’s fleet of warships that becomes the embryo of our modern day Royal Navy. It should have been a straightforward task, but it became mired in the politics and greed of the King’s councillors, something that would never have happened if the King had been in residence.

Pirates! This word often brings to mind the popular image of swashbuckling heroes such as “Blackbeard” and his contemporaries, but some of the earliest known Pirates were women and one of them was none other than King Alfred the Great’s daughter; the Princess Aethelflaed. After the King’s death, the Princess took control of the embryo Royal Navy and took up the cause of ridding the British shores.

Marie and William arrive home from their honeymoon adventures to a home in chaos. A stalker is making their lives a misery and everything they've built together seems to be crumbling around their feet. Then the stalker becomes a killer.

Over twenty Short Stories, some of an autobiographical theme including my Navy experiences in the Falkland Islands and there's four stories specially for children...and those older folk with a soft child's spot in their heart.

Volume one of “A Reluctant Warrior” tells of the adventures and travels of Ranulf, from his lowly beginnings as a ragged orphan, to becoming a national hero.
His adoptive parents send him to the Athelney court of King Alfred to become a scholar, but he becomes involved in the defence of the realm. The army is on the brink of an important victory over the Vikings when he is captured and made slave.

Marie and William set out on an adventurous honeymoon, but discover murder and smuggling on an international scale. Almost by chance they uncover the dark secrets behind it all and decide to point a finger at those responsible. People in high places cannot allow them to do this.